stevens



UNITED STATES PATENT oEEioE.

JNO. STEVENS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

SHIRT-BOSOM FOLDER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 22,039, dated November9, 1858'; Reissued October 24, 1865, BIO/2,097.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN STEVENS, of New York, in the county of New Yorkand State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements inShirt-Bosom Folders, the construction and operation of which I havedescribed in the following specification and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings with suflicient clearness to enable competent andskilful workmen in the arts to which it pertains or is most nearlyallied to make and use my invention.

My said invention consists in the arrangement of a series of strips ofmetal made of equal lengths and width with a number of pins secured in aslot in angle irons attached to the ends of the bed plate, and theresecured by a nut on the under side. The angle irons being graduatedadmit of a ready adjustment of the pins to any distance apart thedistance being equal to the width of the plaits desired in the bosom.

In the accompanyin drawings my invention is represented as follows:

Figure 1, is a plan showing the linen folded between the tins. Fig. 2,is a front elevation. Fig. 3, is a side elevation. Fig. 4, is a sideelevation showing the tins with a flange 011 one edge by which they aremade to lie parallel.

A is a bed plate made of wood. Secured to each end of the bed plate andof nearly the same length are two angle irons B B having a slot runninglengthwise of the -angle irons made to correspond with the T head of thepins.

G are pins having a square head forming a shoulder near the bottom witha screw thread and nut beneath by which the pins are securely held inplace.

D are strips of metal about an inch wide and nearly the length of thebed plate, the ends of which are cut away so as to leave an ear I) oneach end having an eye a, the pins passing through which hold the tinsI) in place. Tins have been used before in bosom folders, but the greatdifficulty has been in making small plaits. The tins being made thewidth of the plaits made them so slender that they were liable tospring, thereby leaving the plaits crooked, which in my machine isavoided as the small plaits are made with the same size tins as thelarge ones.

[FIRsT PRINTED 1911.]

The surface of the angle irons is graduated so-that the plaits can beeasily measured by moving the pins in the slot; also when the linen is alittle short the plaits can be made narrower to accommodate the linen.

E E are two lifters rabbeted into the bed plate near the ends, and madea little longer than the width of the bed plate; these lifters are forthe purpose of raising the tins oif of the pins after the bosom has beenfolded. In folding I use six thicknesses of linen at once.

In order to have the tins lie level as in Fig. 4, I make a flange on theopposite edge of the tin to where the ears are, on half of the number oftins the thickness of one tin. On the other half orv remainder, the tinsbeing numbered, the first one has a flange the thickness of one tin, thesecond of two tins, the third three, and so on.

The operation is as follows: Place the linen on the bed bottom and laythe first tin on it, allowing the linen to overlap the tin enough toallow for stitching; the next tin is then put on and the linen turnedover the edge the nearest to where the tin is slipped over the pin. Forall of the narrow plaits two tins on each pin are required in oppositedirection, and for the wide plaits only one tin. I get the narrow plaitwith the wide tin by turning the tins. The tins are laid on one at atime, and the linen turned over until all are on. Then the tins aretaken from the pins by raising the lifters up, the tins being then drawnout, the bosom is ready for stitching and the machine ready for more.

The particular improvement which constitutes my said invention and whichI claim as having been originally and first invented by me is Thecombination of a series of tins made as described with a series of pinsarranged in a slot in the angle irons attached to the bed plate, thepins being adjustable by means of which the plaits can be made of anydesired width without different sizes of tins with the lifters forraising the tins from the pins, the whole being arranged as describedfor the purposes set forth.

JOHN STEVENS.

Witnesses:

JAs. F. GRIDLEY, JAs. GHAs. GATES.

